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Gelling v. Texas (1952)

Mary Avara, chairwoman of Maryland's movie censor board, examines a piece of film in the board's screening room in 1979. In 1952, a Texas man was convicted for showing a film after a similar censor board in Marshall, Texas, prohibited it. The Supreme Court in Gelling v. Texas overturned the conviction. (AP Photo, with permission from the Associated Press)

The Supreme Court per curiam opinion in Gelling v. Texas, 343 U.S. 960 (1952), reversed a Texas court decision upholding the conviction of W. L. Gelling, who showed an unnamed motion picture after the Board of Censors of Marshall, Texas, prohibited it.